Too Big to Fail

The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System--and Themselves

Presents a moment-by-moment account of the recent financial collapse that documents state efforts to prevent an economic disaster, offering insight into the pivotal consequences of decisions made throughout the past decade.

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What a soap opera! Andrew Ross Sorkin uses his behind-the-scenes access to lay out the details of the recent financial crisis, from the failure of Lehman Brothers to the near failure of other key financial players. This is riveting and page-turning stuff – you can also get updates on this ever-changing drama on his blog, dealbook, for the continuing story. It’s a big book, and I couldn’t put it down. If you want a moment-to-moment breakdown of the events and decisions made by the big boys in 2008-2009, you’ll enjoy this one. I certainly did. Update: HBO is making it into a movie. (submitted by Jen)

Nothing scrupulous about Sorkin or his research!!!!!
[FYI to the compulsively clueless: If an author is either on the payroll of the CIA - - or Wall Street - - or both, then their writing can never be trusted!]

I found this book to be a long, gossipy narrative of the financial crisis. No wonder it was turned into an HBO movie/miniseries.

Simon Johnson's 13 Bankers has more detailed coverage of these events but is more technical.

jlazcan
Nov 12, 2011

This is one of the most complete accounts of the 2008 US economic crisis. Sorkin as a newspaper columnist was there for it all and I am floored by the amount of access he was given. There are less than flattering quotes which I was surprised to see in print. I have read many books on this particular subject and this book is by far the best at covering the interaction between the cast of players. It is so good that I almost question the authenticity of some of the dialogue. If you want to read books on the crisis I would have to say read this one first. I would then look for another book that gets deeper into the detailed workings behind the crash.

zavirani
Oct 20, 2011

An interesting read about some of the inside characters during the collapse of Lehman. I was a bankruptcy attorney at the time, and some of the work I did involved some of the same people involved in the story Sorkin weaves together. A good read with some very good insights.